"trouble and strife"

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED has this well known item of British rhyming slang from 1908 in the now less familiar sense of "life" but not till 1929 as "wife."
 
Not an antedating but a contributing factor:
 
1918 Coningsby Dawson _The Glory of the Trenches_ (London: John Lane) 50: The gramophone...commences to sing:
 
We'll have a little cottage in a little town 
And we'll have a little mistress in a dainty gown, 
A little doggie, a little cat, 
A little doorstep with WELCOME on the mat ; 
And we'll have a little trouble and a little strife, 
But none of these things matter when you've got a little wife. 
 
"Mistress" is _not what you think_, you filthy-minded beggars!
 
JL





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